A very interesting, if still flawed, character study.
I'm not sure how many of you can relate to the character of Bernadette the way I do. You see I have an anxiety disorder and it can be so easy to let the anxiety take control of me. Though Bernadette seems to not fully realize what the anxiety does to her in the way I can, I can see much of myself in her. Because many of you may not have this, I don't know if you'd connect to this movie the way I did, but in this film's best moments it felt very personable to me. Of course making this feel much more real was Cate Blanchett's masterful performance as the title character. She completely loses herself in the character and never becomes a caricature of someone with high anxiety, the way a lesser actress could have easily done.
This is also a very visually beautiful film. Director Richard Linklater of course is an incredible director and brings much of his great directorial flair to this movie. Cinematographer Shane F. Kelly also gets to show how talented he is as the movie has many great and memorable shots in it. Production designer Bruce Curtis also truly drags us into the world of the film.
Where this movie falters is that things happen much too quickly. While the ending is a good one, the story and characters felt like they needed more time to get to the point they are at when the movie ends. Certainly much of this movie simply feels much too rushed, as if the movie did not want to give us time to spend with the characters between plot points. I have not read the book, but I would assume this is a problem that happened adapting it to the screen. Another problem is that as real as Bernadette and her daughter (Emma Nelson, in a very impressive performance for her feature film debut) feel, the husband (Billy Crudup) does not feel as real. In fact there were times I felt irritated by his character. This is not helped by the fact that the character's arc is probably the most rushed thing in the film. However these flaws where completely overcome by just how much I cared about and related to the main character.
While certainly flawed this movie hit me in just the right emotional spot and because of that I certainly recommend it.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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